Are you unbalanced?.. or not? (Concepts of Force and Net Force); 50 minutes + 30 minute extension.
State Standards:
PS3 (9-11)- 8 Students demonstrate an understanding of forces and motion by…
8a - predicting and/or graphing the path of an object in different reference planes and explain how and why (forces) it occurs.
National Standards:
CONTENT STANDARD B: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should
develop an understanding of...
Motions and forces
Context of Lesson:
This lesson marks the first formal lesson most young students get in Forces. The premise of this lesson is not to overwhelm the students with math and memorization. However, the goal of this lesson to comfort the students with an understanding of force, and how this multitude of forces can be organized into difference categories. Some of the key focuses of this lesson include the following:
An introduction to "Who is Isaac Newton?"
Introduce the idea of force and how it effects the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object.
Define Force
Explain how just because one force is acting need not guarantee the object will move.
Define "Balanced" and "Unbalanced" Forces.
Define "Contact Forces" and "Action-at-a-distance Forces".
Do an activity on whether forces are Balanced, Unbalanced, Contact, or Action-at-a-distance.
Have a closing discussion on difference forces.
Opportunities to Learn:
Students will experience a high volume of classroom discussion; both teacher-driven and student driven. The students will work alone to create a class graphic organizer. Then the teacher will consolidate into a "accurate" graphic organizer for the students to replicate. This will lead into the motivator followed by the actual content portion of the class. Followed by more discussion. Think intra-class communication-sandwich!
Depth of Knowledge:
-As discussed in the objectives and main lesson plan, the depth of knowledge in this lesson is focussed in the following categories:
Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Prerequisite Knowledge:
-Real-world and prior science classes on motion and forces
Plans for Differentiating Instruction:
-For those students who are already ahead of the class in the understanding of forces I will have them work in front of the class on the smartboard in my place to organize the "mess" of terms on the whiteboard from the activity.
Accommodations and modifications:
Environmental factors:
Materials:
Droppable Object
Whiteboard + Markers
Smartboard or secondary whiteboard
HW Handout Sheet
Objectives:
Some of the key focuses of this lesson include the following:
Introduce the idea of force and how it effects the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object.
Define Force
Explain how just because one force is acting need not guarantee the object will move.
Define "Balanced" and "Unbalanced" Forces.
Define "Contact Forces" and "Action-at-a-distance Forces".
Do an activity on whether forces are Balanced, Unbalanced, Contact, or Action-at-a-distance.
Have a closing discussion on difference forces.
Instruction:
Opening:
First 5 minutes of class: This five minutes belongs to YOU. What are you going to ask them to think about while they're getting settled?
Settling in and class attendance
5:00-20:00 into class:
Demonstration of book falling off the teacher's desk
-Make sure not to "prepare" the students with any technical jargon.
-Push the book off the desk and ask the students the students to describe what happened. (Loud bang may entertain students and motivate them to pay attention)
-Ask students to recollect on everything they learned in kinematics. Repeat book drop.
-Ask the students to come up the board and write down any words that describe the book falling off the table (Disorganized)
-Emphasize how messy the board looks with all the words scattered on it.
Engagement:
20:00-30:00 into class:
-Ask students to take a seat.
-Teacher guided discussion: Organize the words on the board in a way so that everything stems from the word force.
-Once the board is organized claim to the students that one man, who died 300 years ago (before tvs, phones, electricity, etc. were invented/discovered) organized all these thoughts the same way we just did as a group 30"ish" people.
Go into talk about Isaac Newton's life and some of his major accomplishments.
30:00-45:00 into class:
-Define the word "Force". Why didn't you write your definition here?
-Talk about objects at rest (for instance on tables), How they still have forces acting on them, yet they rest.
-Define "Balanced" and "Unbalanced" forces.
-Offer students to be "volenteers" in different situations to demonstrate balanced and unbalanced forces.
-Discuss how some forces are caused by direct contact of 2 or more objects and how some forces transmit invisibly (i.e. gravity). Will you use vectors (arrows) to help visualize forces acting on objects?
Closure:
45:00-50:00 into class:
-Wrap up discussion on forces and assign homework for that night as part of assessment.
Extension:
50:00-80:00 in class:
-Use handout listed below as in-class activity. Have the students work in small groups to complete one handout per group. Because students are already working together and discussing the forces omit the back side of the sheet and collect the sheet before the end of class. Provide multiple copies and feedback to the students the next day. For homework, have the students go on the internet and find any (appropriate) video on YouTube of some force acting on some object and post on the class Wiki.
-Goal of handout is to have students apply what they learned in class to things they witness in everyday life. This will give students practice is describing real-world things in terms of physics/scientific jargon. The next day the teacher will have the students work in pairs and exchange handouts and complete the back-side. Then discuss their agreements or disagreements. They will hand in homework and receive it back with teacher reflection the next day. This will provide the teacher with much information about overall understanding.
Rhode Island Department of Education: Lesson Plan
Lesson Title:
Are you unbalanced?.. or not? (Concepts of Force and Net Force); 50 minutes + 30 minute extension.State Standards:
PS3 (9-11)- 8 Students demonstrate an understanding of forces and motion by…National Standards:
CONTENT STANDARD B: As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students shoulddevelop an understanding of...
Context of Lesson:
This lesson marks the first formal lesson most young students get in Forces. The premise of this lesson is not to overwhelm the students with math and memorization. However, the goal of this lesson to comfort the students with an understanding of force, and how this multitude of forces can be organized into difference categories. Some of the key focuses of this lesson include the following:Opportunities to Learn:
Students will experience a high volume of classroom discussion; both teacher-driven and student driven. The students will work alone to create a class graphic organizer. Then the teacher will consolidate into a "accurate" graphic organizer for the students to replicate. This will lead into the motivator followed by the actual content portion of the class. Followed by more discussion. Think intra-class communication-sandwich!Depth of Knowledge:
-As discussed in the objectives and main lesson plan, the depth of knowledge in this lesson is focussed in the following categories:Prerequisite Knowledge:
-Real-world and prior science classes on motion and forcesPlans for Differentiating Instruction:
-For those students who are already ahead of the class in the understanding of forces I will have them work in front of the class on the smartboard in my place to organize the "mess" of terms on the whiteboard from the activity.Accommodations and modifications:
Environmental factors:
Materials:
Objectives:
Some of the key focuses of this lesson include the following:Instruction:
Opening:
- First 5 minutes of class: This five minutes belongs to YOU. What are you going to ask them to think about while they're getting settled?
Settling in and class attendance- 5:00-20:00 into class:
Demonstration of book falling off the teacher's desk-Make sure not to "prepare" the students with any technical jargon.
-Push the book off the desk and ask the students the students to describe what happened. (Loud bang may entertain students and motivate them to pay attention)
-Ask students to recollect on everything they learned in kinematics. Repeat book drop.
-Ask the students to come up the board and write down any words that describe the book falling off the table (Disorganized)
-Emphasize how messy the board looks with all the words scattered on it.
Engagement:
- 20:00-30:00 into class:
-Ask students to take a seat.-Teacher guided discussion: Organize the words on the board in a way so that everything stems from the word force.
- Example CMap
-Once the board is organized claim to the students that one man, who died 300 years ago (before tvs, phones, electricity, etc. were invented/discovered) organized all these thoughts the same way we just did as a group 30"ish" people.Go into talk about Isaac Newton's life and some of his major accomplishments.
- 30:00-45:00 into class:
-Define the word "Force". Why didn't you write your definition here?-Talk about objects at rest (for instance on tables), How they still have forces acting on them, yet they rest.
-Define "Balanced" and "Unbalanced" forces.
-Offer students to be "volenteers" in different situations to demonstrate balanced and unbalanced forces.
-Discuss how some forces are caused by direct contact of 2 or more objects and how some forces transmit invisibly (i.e. gravity).
Will you use vectors (arrows) to help visualize forces acting on objects?
Closure:
- 45:00-50:00 into class:
-Wrap up discussion on forces and assign homework for that night as part of assessment.Extension:
- 50:00-80:00 in class:
-Use handout listed below as in-class activity. Have the students work in small groups to complete one handout per group. Because students are already working together and discussing the forces omit the back side of the sheet and collect the sheet before the end of class. Provide multiple copies and feedback to the students the next day. For homework, have the students go on the internet and find any (appropriate) video on YouTube of some force acting on some object and post on the class Wiki.- KenahanPhysicsWiki
-Make sure to review the page before presentation to the class the following day!Assessment:
-Assign formative based assignment. Ask students to complete handout.- Handout
-Goal of handout is to have students apply what they learned in class to things they witness in everyday life. This will give students practice is describing real-world things in terms of physics/scientific jargon. The next day the teacher will have the students work in pairs and exchange handouts and complete the back-side. Then discuss their agreements or disagreements. They will hand in homework and receive it back with teacher reflection the next day. This will provide the teacher with much information about overall understanding.Reflections
(only done after lesson is enacted)Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:
Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:
Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency: